Measurement of Heat-Transfer Rate to a Gas Turbine Stator

A sector of the first stage stationary inlet nozzle of the AiResearch TFE-731-2 engine was instrumented with thin-film heat-transfer gages and experiments were performed to obtain detailed heat-transfer rate distributions. It is shown that the experimental apparatus can be used to study total-pressure losses in cascades. The experimental apparatus consists of a helium-driven shock tube, as a short-duration source of high-temperature high-pressure gas, driving a nozzle-test-section mounted near the exit of a primary shock-tunnel nozzle and extending into the shock-tunnel receiver tank. The nozzle-test-section device consists of a forward transition section with a circular opening facing the supersonic primary nozzle flow and with the external shape of a frustum of a cone. Internal contouring is provided to transform the circular-section subsonic intake flow into one filling a 176 deg annular segment having a geometry approximating that of the entrance to the turbine stator stage in a turbojet.